Now registered the second highest circulation increase over the six months ending December 2004, adding 6.8% to power to 619,186 copies a week, up 4.6% year on year.
Evelyn Webster, managing director of IPC Connect, said: "Now has led the Celebrity sector since 2001. It was the market leader when there were four magazines and it remains market leader now there are eight."
Heat clambered over Express Newspapers' OK! magazine as it grabbed almost 12,000 extra sales to hit 552,215, up 2.2% year on year. OK! continued to slip, losing almost 23,000 sales or 4.4% over the period to stand at 529,492 copies, down 7.3% year on year.
Emap's Closer retained its upward momentum, adding 5% to bring its weekly circulation figure to 504,350, putting it up 31% year on year.
Louise Matthews, managing director of Emap Entertainment, said: "No-one in the industry or Emap expected Closer to reach such heights, so quickly."
Express Newspapers saw New! lose 1.9% over the period to 396,079, although it is still up 18.5% year on year. Its newest title, Star, was the biggest gainer, selling 15.2% more copies over the period to 211,551. It is too new to have year-on-year figure.
Hello! is close on the heels of New! with a circulation of 382,391 after it gained 5.9% over the period. Its year-on-year rise is 9.1%.
ACP-Natmags is not publishing ABC figures for Reveal, which it launched in November, because it only had nine issues out over the six month period. ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 magazine reported today that press buyers are threatening to pull ads from Reveal because of the decision.
In the overall women's weekly group, IPC's Chat gained very slightly on H Bauer's Take a Break but remains way off top spot.
Take a Break rose 1.2% over the period to 1,222,774 and is down only 0.4% year on year. Chat rose 4.9% over the period to 636,310 and is up 5.2% year on year.
David Goodchild, managing director of H. Bauer said: "Every year Take a Break continues to deliver astonishing sales and the circulation figure supports this. At nearly double the circulation of the nearest competitor, we are delighted that the magazine continues to grow."
H Bauer's other titles recovered from previous falls. That's Life reached 601,806 with a 4.9% rise. Bella's sales increased by 3.1% over the period to 428,028.
IPC's trio of Woman, Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly remained steady. The biggest change was at Woman, which fell 1.6% to 527,764 and is down 6.7% year on year. Its new title, Pick Me Up, which it is hoping will take readers from Take a Break, only launched in January and so is not included in the figures.
The women's weeklies sector as a whole, both celebrity and real life titles, grew 2% to 8.6m copies.
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